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VMware NSX Glossary

  • BUM Traffic - Broadcast, Unknown unicast and Multicast
  • DFW - NSX Distributed Firewall
  • DLR - Distributed Logical Router
  • ECMP - Equal Cost Multi-Path
  • ESG - Edge Services Gateway
  • IPFIX - Internet Protocol Flow Information Export
  • LIF - Logical Interface
  • MTEP - Multicast Tunnel Endpoint
  • UDLR - Universal Distributed Logical Router
  • ULS - Universal Logical Switch
  • UTEP - Unicast Tunnel Endpoint
  • UTZ - Universal Transport Zone
  • VTEP - VXLAN Tunnel Endpoint
  • VXLAN - Virtual Extensible LAN
  • X-VC NSX - Cross-vCenter NSX

BUM Traffic
Broadcast, Unknown unicast and Multicast
Generic term to describe all types of layer 2 traffic that is not direct unicast. Unknown unicast traffic happens when the destination MAC address is unknown in the CAM table of a switch. Traffic is then treating like a broadcast packet and flooded out of all the ports of a switch.

DFW
NSX Distributed Firewall
The NSX DFW provides firewall services to any workload in the NSX environment. DFW runs in the kernel space and provides near line rate network traffic protection. NSX DFW operates at the VM vNIC level which means that the VM is always protected irrespective of topology. Traffic that is processed by a DFW can stay inside the logical network and can therefore be handled as East-West traffic.

DLR
Distributed Logical Router
A DLR is a virtual appliance that contains the routing control plane, while distributing the data plane to VMkernel modules on each ESXi host. The NSX platform provides logical routing capabilities that allows to interconnect both virtual and physical endpoints deployed in different logical L2 networks. Traffic that is processed by a DLR can stay inside the logical network and can therefore be handled as East-West traffic.

ECMP
Equal Cost Multi-Path
Layer 3 load balancing by using multiple next-hop addresses for the same destination with equal costs. Routes with an equal cost have the same preference and metric values. ECMP uses an algorithm to choose one of the next-hop addresses in the routing table.

ESG
Edge Services Gateway
The ESG provides edge services such as firewall, NAT, DHCP, VPN and load balancing. ESG are virtual appliances that can be deployed in a highly available configuration. Traffic that is processed by a ESG is typcally North-South traffic.

IPFIX
Internet Protocol Flow Information Export
IETF Protocol to export IP flow information from routers to a collector.

LIF
Logical Interface
A LIF connects to VXLAN based Logical Switches or distributed portgroups. The LIF configuration is distributed to each ESXi host to allow VMkernel based East-West communication and act as the default gateway for all VMs connected to logical switches.

MTEP
Multicast Tunnel Endpoint
VTEP used in Multicast Mode

UDLR
Universal Distributed Logical Router
Starting with NSX 6.2, Logical Routers can be stretched across different vCenters by using an Universal Transport Zone.

ULS
Universal Logical Switch
Starting with NSX 6.2 Logical Switches can be stretched across different vCenters by using an Universal Transport Zone. Any ULS created is available on all clusters in the universal transport zone. The universal transport zone can include clusters in any vCenter in a Cross-vCenter NSX environment.

UTEP
Unicast Tunnel Endpoint
VTEP used in Unicast Mode

UTZ
Universal Transport Zone
An UTZ is used in in a Cross-vCenter NSX environment. The UTZ is created on the primary NSX Manager, and synchronized to secondary NSX Managers. Clusters that need to participate in universal logical networks must be added to the universal transport zone.

VTEP
VXLAN Tunnel Endpoint
The VTEP connects a virtual switch to the IP network. The VTEP is an VMkernel port located on each ESXi hosts. The function of a VTEP is to encapsulate Logical Switch traffic to send it across an IP network.

VXLAN
Virtual Extensible LAN
A VXLAN is a network virtualization technology that improves scalability and manageability issues in virtual deployments. It uses a VLAN-like encapsulation technique to encapsulate MAC-based layer 2 Ethernet frames within layer 4 UDP packets.

X-VC NSX
Cross-vCenter NSX
NSX 6.2 allows to manage multiple vCenter NSX environments from a single primary NSX Manager. It supports creation of universal objects on the primary NSX Manager, which are synchronized across all vCenter Servers systems in the environment.